Method and apparatus for mapping and de-mapping in an optical transport network

ABSTRACT

The embodiments of the present invention disclose methods and apparatuses for mapping processing and de-mapping processing in an optical transport network. A Lower Order Optical Channel Data Unit (LO ODU) signal is mapped into a payload area of an Optical Channel Data Tributary (ODTU) signal in units of M bytes. M is equal to the number of tributary slots of a Higher Order Optical Channel Payload Unit (HO OPU) that are to be occupied by the ODTU signal, and M is an integer larger than 1. Overhead information is encapsulated to an overhead area of the ODTU signal. Thereafter, the ODTU signal is multiplexed into the HO OPU. In this way, an efficient and universal mode for mapping the LO ODU to the HO OPU is provided.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/712,675, filed on Feb. 25, 2010, which claims the benefit of priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 200910106028.2, filed on Mar. 9, 2009, both of the applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of communication technologies, and particularly, to a mapping technique in an optical transport network.

BACKGROUND

With the quick development of communication technologies, the Optical Transport Network (OTN), with the advantages of flexible scheduling and management of large capacity services, is increasingly becoming a major technology of the backbone transport network. In the OTN, client data is encapsulated into an Optical Channel Payload Unit (OPU), some overhead (OH) is added to the OPU to constitute an Optical Channel Data Unit (ODU), some OH and Forward Error Correction (FEC) is added into the ODU to constitute an Optical Channel Transport Unit (OTU), and is finally transmitted in the form of OTU.

With the rapid development of data services, more and more clients adopt Ethernet technology as the physical interface at the client side. It is foreseeable that in the coming years, the Ethernet services will keep a continuous high-speed growth. However, the current OTN technology is designed based on speech services such as synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH), and cannot well support the development trend of data services like Ethernet, thus studies are gradually carried out on the next generation of OTN network (NG OTN). The NG OTN is supposed not only to meet the requirements of services newly appeared, but also bear the current OTN. Thus, how to map a Lower Order Optical Channel Data Unit (LO ODU) to a Higher Order Optical Channel Data Unit (HO ODU) is a focus being discussed in the industry. The LO ODU may be regarded as ODUk (k=0, 1, 2, 2e, 3, 3e) existing in the current OTN, and herein represented as LO ODUk (k=0, 1, 2, 2e, 3, 3e). The HO ODU may be regarded as a data transmission unit of a higher rate, which belongs to the category of the NG OTN and is used for bearing the LO ODU, and the corresponding OPU is represented as HO OPUk (k=1, 2, 3, 3e, 4).

The conventional technical solution maps the standard ODUj (j=1, 2) (for 20 ppm bit tolerance) into the OPUk (k=2, 3) in an asynchronous manner. The asynchronous method maps the ODUj signal into the OPUk through an adjustment policy of −1/0/+1/+2. With the asynchronous manner, a maximum bit error tolerance between ODU1 and OPU2 is −113 to +83 ppm, a maximum bit error tolerance between ODU1 and OPU3 is −96 to +101 ppm, and a maximum bit error tolerance between ODU2 and OPU3 is −95 to +101 ppm.

However, the conventional method is not suitable for mapping the LO ODU into the HO ODU, e.g. for ODU2e (100 ppm bit tolerance), etc. ODUflex of higher bit tolerance may occur, and the adjustment policy of −1/0/+1/+2 does not meet the requirement for mapping the LO ODU into the HO ODU.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention provide method and apparatus for mapping and de-mapping in an Optical Transport Network (OTN), so as to map a Lower Order Optical Channel Data Unit (LO ODU) signal into a Higher Order Optical Channel Payload Unit (HO ODU) universally and efficiently.

In the mapping method provided by the embodiments of the present invention, first, a Lower Order Optical Channel Data Unit (LO ODU) signal is mapped into a payload area of an Optical Channel Data Tributary Unit (ODTU) signal in units, each unit including M bytes, where M is equal to the number of tributary slots of a Higher Order Optical Channel Payload Unit (HO OPU) that are to be occupied by the ODTU signal, and M is an integer larger than 1.

And, overhead information is encapsulated to an overhead area of the ODTU signal.

Finally, the ODTU signal is multiplexed into the HO OPU.

The apparatus for processing data in an OTN, provided by the embodiments of the present invention, includes a processor and a computer readable medium having a plurality of computer executable instructions stored thereon. The instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of the above mapping method.

In the de-mapping method provided by the embodiments of the present invention, first, a HO OPU is parsed to obtain an ODTU signal.

Then, de-map in units of M bytes to obtain a Lower Order Optical Channel Data Unit (LO ODU) signal from a payload area of the ODTU signal, where M is equal to the number of tributary slots of the HO OPU that are occupied by the ODTU, and M is an integer larger than 1.

The de-mapping apparatus, provided by the embodiments of the present invention, comprises a processor and a computer readable medium having a plurality of computer executable instructions stored thereon. The instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of the above de-mapping method.

The embodiments of the present invention further provide a mapping apparatus in an OTN. The mapping apparatus includes a mapping unit, an encapsulating unit and a multiplexing unit. The mapping unit is configured to map a Lower Order Optical Channel Data Unit (LO ODU) signal into a payload area of an Optical Channel Data Tributary Unit (ODTU) signal in units, each unit including M bytes, where M is equal to the number of tributary slots of a Higher Order Optical Channel Payload Unit (HO OPU) that are to be occupied by the ODTU signal, and M is an integer larger than 1. The encapsulating unit is configured to encapsulate overhead information to an overhead area of the ODTU signal. The multiplexing unit is configured to multiplexing the ODTU signal into the HO OPU.

The embodiments of the present invention further provide a de-mapping apparatus in an OTN. The de-mapping apparatus includes a parsing unit, a de-mapping unit. The parsing unit is configured to parse a Higher Order Optical Channel Payload Unit (HO OPU) to obtain an Optical Channel Data Tributary Unit (ODTU) signal. The de-mapping unit is configured to de-map in units, each unit including M bytes, to obtain a Lower Order Optical Channel Data Unit (LO ODU) signal from a payload area of the ODTU signal, where M is equal to the number of tributary slots of the HO OPU that are occupied by the ODTU, and M is an integer larger than 1.

In the above embodiments, the encapsulated overhead information may further include information indicating the number of the M-byte data units of the LO ODU signal that are mapped during a multi-frame period.

According to at least some of the embodiments of the present invention, a high-efficient and universal mode for mapping a LO ODU to a HO OPU is achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is apparent that the following are just some drawings for the embodiments of the present invention, and a person skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a mapping method in an OTN according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of dividing an HO OPU into eight 1.25 G tributary slots, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a mapping mode according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of another mapping mode according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of a mapping from LO ODU to HO OPU2 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of another mapping from LO ODU to HO OPU2 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of yet another mapping from LO ODU to HO OPU2 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view illustrating information encoding of “C8M-base+C8M-delta+C8-delta” according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a de-mapping method in an OTN according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a simplified block diagram of a mapping apparatus in an OTN according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a simplified block diagram of a mapping apparatus in an OTN according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 12 is a simplified block diagram of a de-mapping apparatus in an OTN according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention are described in the following in conjunction with the drawings of the embodiments. It is apparent that the described embodiments are just a part of embodiments of the present invention, instead of all embodiments thereof. Based on the embodiments of the present invention as described below, other embodiments, which may be obtained by a person skilled in the art without creative efforts, shall also fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

At a data transmitting side, as shown in FIG. 1, a mapping method in an OTN according to an embodiment of the present invention includes:

S1: Constructing an ODTU according to an amount M of tributary slots of an HO OPU to be occupied by an LO ODU.

S2: Mapping the LO ODU to a payload area of the ODTU in an M-byte granularity.

S3: Encapsulating overhead information to the overhead area of the ODTU.

S4: Multiplexing the ODTU, which has been mapped the LO ODU and encapsulated with the overhead information, to the HO OPU.

The above method provides an efficient and universal mode for mapping the LO ODU to the HO OPU.

The implementation processes of these steps in some specific applications are described in detail as follows.

The step S1, constructing an ODTU according to an amount M of tributary slots of an HO OPU to be occupied by an LO ODU, may include:

S11: Determining the amount M of the tributary slots of the HO OPU to be occupied by the LO ODU.

Specifically, the amount M of the tributary slots of the HO OPU to be occupied by the LO ODU may be determined according to the rate of the LO ODU and the rate of a single tributary slot of the HO OPU, i.e. M=upper rounding of (the rate of the LO ODU/the rate of a single tributary slot of the HO OPU).

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a HO OPU2 is divided into eight 1.25 G tributary slots, and eight frames of HO OPU2 forms a large multi-frame. If the rate of a certain LO ODU is 6 G, then it needs to occupy five tributary slots of the HO OPU2, and thus M equals 5 (i.e. M=upper rounding of 6/1.25). Five tributary slots of the HO OPU2 may be allocated to the current LO ODU according to the usage conditions of the tributary slots in the HO OPU. Herein the five tributary slots allocated to the current LO ODU are assumed to be tributary slots 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8.

Of course, other methods may also be used to determine M and allocate the tributary slots to be occupied. The manner for determining M is not limited by the embodiments of the present invention, and shall fall within the protection scope of the embodiments of the present invention.

S12: Constructing the ODTU.

The ODTU includes M tributary slots, and further includes Justification Control Overhead (JC OH) corresponding to JC OH position of the HO OPU. As shown in FIG. 2, the ODTU includes the tributary slots 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8 in the multi-frame formed of eight HO OPUs, and further includes JC OH position of HO OPU frames to which the respective tributary slots correspond. The shaded portions in FIG. 2 correspond to the ODTU.

The step S2, mapping the LO ODU to a payload area of the ODTU in an M-byte granularity, may include:

S21: determining an amount of LO ODU(s) of M-bytes to be mapped when mapping in the M-byte granularity, according to an amount X of the LO ODU(s) to be transmitted during each multi-frame period, and herein is represented as C8M; in another embodiment of the present invention, determining clock information according to the amount X of the LO ODU(s) to be transmitted during each multi-frame period, clock information is determined and herein is represented as C8-delta. The above two information items are jointly represented as “C8M+C8-delta” information.

The manner for acquiring the amount X is known, and hence is not described in the embodiments of the present invention.

Specifically, the embodiment of the present invention may use the following method to determine “C8M+C8-delta”:

1. Calculating C8M, MAX according to:

-   -   C8M, MAX=(LO ODU rate * LO ODU maximum frequency deviation)/(M *         TS rate * TS minimum frequency deviation) * 15232

2. Calculating C8M, MIN according to:

-   -   C8M, MIN=(LO ODU rate * LO ODU minimum frequency deviation)/(M *         TS rate * TS maximum frequency deviation) * 15232

3. Calculating C8, MAX according to:

-   -   C8, MAX=(LO ODU rate * LO ODU maximum frequency deviation)/(TS         rate * TS minimum frequency deviation) * 15232

4. Calculating C8, MIN according to:

-   -   C8, MIN=(LO ODU rate * LO ODU minimum frequency deviation)/(TS         rate *TS maximum frequency deviation) * 15232

Then C8M is an integer value within the range of [lower rounding of C8M, MIN, upper rounding of C8M, MAX], C8-delta is X−M*C8M, indicating the clock information, where X is C8, and C8 is an integer value with the range of [lower rounding of C8, MIN, upper rounding of C8, MAX].

Assuming a certain LO ODU has an amount X=76111 bytes of client data and occupies M=5 tributary slots, then C8M=lower rounding of (X/M)=15222, and C8-delta=X−M*C8M=1. Or, C8M=lower rounding of (X/M)+1=15223, and C8-delta=X−M*C8M=−4. The mapped data information and clock information can be completely reflected by transmitting the “C8M+C8-delta” information, i.e. (15222, 1) or (15223, −4). The receiving side may perceive, according to (15222, 1) or (15223, −4), that the transmitting side needs to transmit client data of 76111 bytes during one multi-frame period, so as to accurately recover the client clock at the receiving side.

The present invention may also use other methods to determine “C8M+C8-delta”. Meanwhile, they are not limited by the embodiments of the present invention, and all fall within the protection scope of those embodiments.

S22: Mapping the amount of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte to the payload area of the ODTU in a M-byte granularity.

After the number of tributary slots M to be occupied by the ODTU is determined, the amount of the LO ODU(s) is mapped to the payload area of the ODTU in a M-byte granularity. This means mapping M bytes of client data as a unit. In the above example, M=5, mapping the amount of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte to the payload area of the ODTU in the M-byte granularity means mapping the 76111 bytes of LO ODU data in 15222 or 15223 5-byte units to the payload area of the ODTU, i.e. performing the mapping operation every 5 bytes of LO ODU, and totally mapping for 15,222 or 15,223 times.

Specifically, the sigma-delta algorithm or other Generic Mapping Procedure (GMP) mapping methods may be used to map the LO ODU(s) to the payload area of the ODTU, as long as the other GMP mapping methods meet the following characteristics:

-   -   1. being capable of automatically determining a filling amount         according to the mapped signals and the rate of a target         container;     -   2. being capable of automatically determining distribution         positions of the filling and mapping signals in the target         container according to the mapped signals and the rate of the         target container; and     -   3. transporting position information carrying the filling and         mapping signals in the overhead of the target container.

The characteristic information of the GMP mapping method in the embodiments of the present invention is further described with the following two mapping modes, but is not limited by the two mapping modes.

Mapping mode 1: evenly distributing filling data and mapping signal data to the payload area through the sigma-delta algorithm. Information such as positions of the filling and mapping signals is carried and transported by the overhead of the target container. The effect after the mapping is shown in FIG. 3, where S is filling data and D is mapping signal data, and the filling data and the mapping signal data are evenly distributed to the payload area.

Mapping mode 2: concentratedly placing the filling data in a fixed position of the payload area, and determining which portions in the payload area are for the filling data and which portions in the payload area are for the mapping signal data according to the filling amount. Information such as positions of the filling and mapping signals is carried and transported by the overhead of the target container. The effect after the mapping is shown in FIG. 4, where S is the filling data and D is the mapping signal data.

The step S3, encapsulating overhead information to the overhead area of the ODTU, may include the following:

In an embodiment of the present invention, the overhead information includes the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte, and encapsulating the overhead information to the overhead area of the ODTU includes encapsulating the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte units to the overhead area of the ODTU.

Specifically, various ways may be used in encapsulating the amount information of the LO ODU(s) to the overhead area of the ODTU, and some examples include:

1) directly encapsulating the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte to the overhead area of the ODTU, and a form of “C8M” may be used;

2) dividing the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte into a fixed portion of the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte and a variable portion of the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte, and encapsulating the fixed portion of the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte and the variable portion of the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte to the overhead area of the ODTU; transporting in a form of this overhead information may also achieve the same effect. Specifically, a form of “C8M-base+C8M-delta” may be adopted, where C8M-base+C8M-delta equivalent to C8M, indicating an amount of M-bytes in the LO ODU(s) mapped to the payload area of the ODTU; C8M-base is an amount of M-bytes in the fixed portion, and C8M-delta is an amount of M-bytes in the variable portion;

3) determining amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte units to be filled according to the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte, and encapsulating the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte to be filled to the overhead area of the ODTU. Transmitting in a form of this overhead information may also achieve the same effect. Specifically, a form of “S8M” may be adopted, where S represents the filling data, S8M indicates an amount of filled bytes in the ODTU after the LO ODU(s) are mapped to the ODTU, and S8M=15232−C8M.

In another embodiment of the invention, the overhead information may include the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte units and the clock information, and the step S3,encapsulating the overhead information to the overhead area of the ODTU may include encapsulating the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte and the clock information to the overhead area of the ODTU.

Specifically, various ways may be used in encapsulating the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte and the clock information to the overhead area of the ODTU, and some examples include:

1) directly encapsulating the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte and the clock information to the overhead area of the ODTU, and a form of “C8M+C8-delta” may be used;

2) dividing the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte units into a fixed portion and a variable portion, and encapsulating the fixed portion of the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte and the variable portion to the overhead area of the ODTU. Transporting in a form of this overhead information may also achieve the same effect. Specifically, a form of “C8M-base+C8M-delta+C8-delta” may be used, where C8M-base+C8M-delta equivalents to C8M, indicating the quantity of M-byte units in the LO ODU(s) mapped to the payload area of the ODTU; C8M-base is the quantity of M-byte units in the fixed portion, and C8M-delta is the quantity of M-byte units in the variable portion;

3) determining amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte to be filled, and encapsulating the amount information of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte to be filled to the overhead area of the ODTU. Transporting in a form of this overhead information may also achieve the same effect. Specifically, a form of “S8M+S8-delta” may be adopted, where S represents the filling data, S8M indicates an amount of filled bytes in the ODTU after the LO ODU(s) are mapped to the ODTU, S8M=15232−C8M, and S8-delta indicates the clock information.

Encapsulating the overhead information to the overhead area of the ODTU may include encapsulating the overhead information to an overhead corresponding to a first tributary slot or a last tributary slot in the ODTU.

The overhead information indicates clock information and an amount of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte mapped to the ODTU in next n multi-frames, or indicates clock information and an amount of the LO ODU(s) of M-byte mapped to the ODTU in next n frames, where n is a natural number.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the “C8M+C8-delta” information indicates conditions of the clock information and an amount of M-byte units in the LO ODU(s) mapped to the ODTU in the next multi-frame.

If the “C8M+C8-delta” information is encapsulated to the JC OH corresponding to the first tributary slot in the ODTU, i.e. the JC OH position of the 2^(nd) frame of HO OPU corresponding to the tributary slot 2 in the current multi-frame, then the mapping process is shown in FIG. 5. If the “C8M+C8-delta” information is encapsulated to the JC OH corresponding to the last tributary slot in the ODTU, i.e. the JC OH position of the 8^(th) frame of HO OPU corresponding to the tributary slot 8 in the current multi-frame, then the mapping process is shown in FIG. 6.

In another one embodiment of the invention, the “C8M-base+C8M-delta+C8-delta” information indicates conditions of the clock information and an amount of M-byte units in the LO ODU(s) mapped to the ODTU in the next frame of HO OPU.

Also taking HO OPU2 as an example, in the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, encapsulating “C8M-base+C8M-delta+C8-delta” to the JC OH positions of the 2^(nd), 3^(rd), 5^(th), 7^(th) and 8^(th) frames of HO OPU2 corresponding to tributary slots 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8 in the current multi-frame, respectively. The information “C8M-base+C8M-delta+C8-delta” at the 2^(nd), 3^(rd), 5^(th), 7^(th) and 8^(th) frames of HO OPU2 indicate clock information and amounts of M-byte units in the LO ODU(s) mapped to the payload area of the ODTU in the next frame of HO OPU2, respectively. The amount of M-byte units in the LO ODU(s) mapped to the payload area of the ODTU in other frames of HO OPU2 is C8M-base; i.e. indicating mapping C8M-base+C8M-delta M-byte data of the LO ODU(s) in an M-byte granularity to the ODTU payload areas in the 3^(rd), 4^(th), 6^(th) and 8^(th) frames of HO OPUs in the current multi-frame and the ODTU payload area in the 1^(st) frame of HO OPU in the next multi-frame. Mapping C8M-base M-byte data of the LO ODU(s) in an M-byte granularity to the ODTU payload areas in the 2^(nd), 5^(th) and 7^(th) frames of HO OPUs.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the information “C8M-base+C8M-delta+C8-delta” may be encapsulated in the following mode, but not limited thereby, as shown in FIG. 8.

In which, C8M-base occupies 13 bits, C8M-delta occupies 3 bits, C8-delta occupies 8 bits, and FEC occupies 8 bits; herein the FEC error correcting function is added, and an encoding mode of BCH (16, 12) may be used to achieve an effect of correcting an error of 1 bit, and improve the reliability of the information “C8M-base+C8M-delta+C8-delta” during transportation. In addition, the FEC may also be replaced by CRC, and the information “C8M-base+C8M-delta+C8-delta” received at the receiving side is ensured as correct through a CRC verification.

The step S4, multiplexing the ODTU, which has been mapped the LO ODU and encapsulated with the overhead information, to the HO OPU, follows the step S3.

The mapping method in an OTN according to the embodiment of the present invention not only provides a high-efficient and universal mode for mapping the LO ODU to the HO OPU, compatible with processes of mapping LO ODU to HO OPU in different granularities for the convenience of interconnection, but also separates the data information from the clock information to mapping in a large granularity, and carries the clock information with the byte granularity to solve the problem of poor performance of clock recovered at the receiving side caused by mapping only with large granularity.

Correspondingly, at the data receiving side, as shown in FIG. 9, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a de-mapping method in an OTN, for parsing an HO OPU to determine an ODTU and an amount M of tributary slots occupied by the ODTU; and de-mapping an LO ODU from a payload area of the ODTU in an M-byte granularity.

De-mapping the LO ODU from the payload area of the ODTU in the M-byte granularity includes:

acquiring information of an amount of the LO ODU of M-byte from the overhead of the ODTU; and

de-mapping the amount of the LO ODU of M-byte from the payload area of the ODTU in the M-byte granularity.

De-mapping the LO ODU of M-byte from the payload area of the ODTU in the M-byte granularity further includes:

acquiring clock information from the overhead of the ODTU, and recovering the clock of client service according to the clock information.

As shown in FIG. 10, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a mapping apparatus in an OTN, including:

a constructing unit, configured to construct an ODTU according to an amount M of tributary slots of an HO OPU to be occupied by an LO ODU;

a mapping unit, configured to for map the LO ODU to a payload area of the ODTU in an M-byte granularity;

an encapsulating unit, configured to encapsulate overhead information to the overhead area of the ODTU; and

a multiplexing unit, configured to multiplex the ODTU, which has been mapped the LO ODU and encapsulated with the overhead information, to the HO OPU.

As shown in FIG. 11, another embodiment of the present invention provides a mapping apparatus in an OTN, including the constructing unit, the mapping unit, the encapsulating unit and the multiplexing unit as shown in FIG. 10, where the mapping unit includes:

a determining module, configured to determine an amount of the LO ODU of M-byte to be mapped when mapping in an M-byte granularity, according to an amount X of the LO ODU to be transmitted in each multi-frame period;

a mapping module, configured to map the amount of the LO ODU of M-byte to the payload area of the ODTU in the M-byte granularity; and

the encapsulating unit is configured to encapsulate the amount information of the LO ODU of M-byte to the overhead area of the ODTU.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the determining module is further adopted for determining clock information according to the amount X of the LO ODU to be transmitted during each multi-frame period; and

the encapsulating unit is further configured to encapsulate the clock information to the overhead area of the ODTU.

As shown in FIG. 12, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a de-mapping apparatus in an OTN, including:

a parsing unit, configured to parse an HO OPU to determine an ODTU and an amount M of tributary slots occupied by the ODTU; and

a de-mapping unit, configured to de-map an LO ODU from a payload area of the ODTU in an M-byte granularity.

The detailed contents about signal processing and executions among the components of the above apparatuses are based on the same concept of the method embodiments of the present invention, please refer to the descriptions of the method embodiments of the present invention, and herein are not described.

The above descriptions are just some exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereby. Any modification or substitution that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention shall be covered by the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to that of the claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for processing data in an Optical Transport Network (OTN), comprising: mapping, by a processor of an apparatus for processing data, a Lower Order Optical Channel Data Unit (LO ODU) signal into a payload area of an Optical Channel Data Tributary Unit (ODTU) signal in groups of M bytes, wherein M is equal to the number of time slots of a Higher Order Optical Channel Payload Unit (HO OPU) that are to be occupied by the ODTU signal, and M is an integer larger than 1; encapsulating overhead information to an overhead area of the ODTU signal; and multiplexing the ODTU signal into the HO OPU.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the overhead information comprises information indicating a quantity of M-byte data groups of the LO ODU signal that are mapped during a multi-frame period.
 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the overhead information further comprises clock information that is determined according to the quantity of M-byte data groups.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the overhead information is presented in a tributary slot overhead area corresponding to the first tributary slot or the last tributary slot among tributary slots that are occupied by the ODTU signal.
 5. An apparatus for processing data in an Optical Transport Network (OTN), comprising: a processor and a computer readable non-transitory medium having a plurality of computer executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: map a Lower Order Optical Channel Data Unit (LO ODU) signal into a payload area of an Optical Channel Data Tributary Unit (ODTU) signal in groups of M bytes, wherein M is equal to the number of tributary slots of a Higher Order Optical Channel Payload Unit (HO OPU) that are to be occupied by the ODTU signal, and M is an integer larger than 1; encapsulate overhead information to an overhead area of the ODTU signal; and multiplex the ODTU signal into the HO OPU.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the overhead information comprises information indicating a quantity of M-byte data groups of the LO ODU signal that are mapped during a multi-frame period.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the overhead information further comprises clock information that is determined according to the quantity of M-byte data groups.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the overhead information is presented in a tributary slot overhead area corresponding to the first tributary slot or the last tributary slot among tributary slots that are occupied by the ODTU signal.
 9. A method for processing data in an Optical Transport Network (OTN), comprising: parsing, by a processor in an apparatus for processing data, a Higher Order Optical Channel Payload Unit (HO OPU) to obtain an Optical Channel Data Tributary Unit (ODTU) signal; and de-mapping a Lower Order Optical Channel Data Unit (LO ODU) signal from a payload area of the ODTU signal in groups of M bytes, wherein M is equal to the number of tributary slots of the HO OPU that are occupied by the ODTU, and M is an integer larger than
 1. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein de-mapping the LO ODU signal comprises: acquiring, from an overhead area of the ODTU, overhead information indicating a quantity of M-byte data groups of the LO ODU signal that have been mapped into the payload area of the ODTU; and de-mapping the LO ODU signal from the payload area of the ODTU signal in the groups of M bytes according to the quantity of M-byte data groups.
 11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the overhead information is presented in a tributary slot overhead area corresponding to the first tributary slot or the last tributary slot among tributary slots that are occupied by the ODTU signal.
 12. An apparatus for processing data in an Optical Transport Network (OTN), comprising: a processor and a computer readable non-transitory medium having a plurality of computer executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: parse a Higher Order Optical Channel Payload Unit (HO OPU) to obtain an Optical Channel Data Tributary Unit (ODTU) signal; and de-map a Lower Order Optical Channel Data Unit (LO ODU) signal from a payload area of the ODTU signal in groups of M bytes, wherein M is equal to the number of tributary slots of the HO OPU that are occupied by the ODTU, and M is an integer larger than
 1. 13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the instructions to de-map the LO ODU signal include instructions to: acquire, from an overhead area of the ODTU, overhead information indicating a quantity of M-byte data groups of the LO ODU signal that have been mapped into the payload area of the ODTU; and de-map the LO ODU signal from the payload area of the ODTU signal in the units groups of M bytes according to the quantity of M-byte data groups.
 14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the overhead information is presented in a tributary slot overhead area corresponding to the first tributary slot or the last tributary slot among tributary slots that are occupied by the ODTU signal. 